With Ai fighting right behind him, Tatsuro could still hear the deafening sounds of stones exploding.
Considering his next move, the caterpillar in front of him had already shortened the gap to 2 meters. Realising that he was in a bad situation, Tatsuro wanted to increase the distance between him and his enemy when all of a sudden, the caterpillar came to a complete halt.
"… What now?" (Tatsuro)
Puzzled by the sudden change in behavior, Tatsuro was left dumbfounded. The caterpillar, however, did not wait for him. Facing Tatsuro, it raised its head, tilting it slightly backward while opening its mouth.
"This is bad…" (Tatsuro)
Feeling the chills on his spine, Tatsuro quickly jumped aside to avoid the attack's trajectory.
"So that's [Thread Weaving]!" (Tatsuro)
It was fortunate that he could learn his enemy's methods of attack from [Level Eater]. If he didn't, he wasn't sure whether he could have dodged that attack or not.
Angry about its thread being evaded, the caterpillar started scattering more around the area.
"There, there, and there! Your skill activation sequence is too big and predictable." (Tatsuro)
Tatsuro evaded the threads by a wide margin.
In contrast to Ai, he had good reflexes and motor skills. Having seen it once already, Tatsuro was confident that he could dodge its thread without the stats correction once he saw the wind-up action for [Thread Weaving]. ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ novęlfire.net
Realizing that its thread attacks were ineffective, the caterpillar stopped using it and went back to closing the distance between them.
(This time, it'll use either [Body Slam] or [Bite]) He thought.
From the names alone, predicting the skills' effect is as easy as reading a nursery rhyme. As such, Tatsuro focused on and scrutinized every single move that the caterpillar made. Drawing an imaginary circle with the caterpillar in the center, Tatsuro tried to discern the attack range of the insect.
However, the caterpillar halted its movement once again.
"Another thread?" (Tatsuro).
Though the caterpillar tilted its head backward again, it also curled its body to a shape resembling a shrimp. Quickly accelerating forward with its curled body, it violently shot toward Tatsuro like a spring.
"Haa… That was fast." (Tatsuro)
This attack, too, was easily dodged by Tatsuro. Seeing the preceding sequence of moves, he was able to accurately predict that it would use [Body Slam].
Suddenly, he stumbled upon an idea.
While making sure not to take his eyes off of the caterpillar for too long, Tatsuro started looking for something in the area that fit his plan.
Upon locating it, he carefully proceeded towards it and picked up a twig that was about as thick as a human's wrist. Using his knee, he snapped the twig to fit his desired length and threw the leftovers at the caterpillar, provoking it.
Angered, the ‘shrimp' started curling its body again.
Calculating the direction of the caterpillar's attack, Tatsuro moved forward and stabbed the twig into the ground, the sharp end facing up.
The caterpillar, realizing what Tatsuro was planning, tried canceling its attack but to no avail, as it launched itself towards the direction of the twig. Even though it tried to forcefully swing its own body down, he was still stabbed by the sharp end of the twig.
Tatsuro's game plan worked.
The twig was further snapped by the impact of the caterpillar's crash. Releasing a few more shrieks as it writhed on the ground, the caterpillar soon turned motionless.
Thinking that it was over, Tatsuro started walking back to where Ai was. However, a sense of dread soon hit him. His expectation of the caterpillar dying instantly was betrayed.
Hearing that, Tatsuro's body twitched. The caterpillar, still impaled by the twig, rose and faced him once again. This time, it gave off a different feeling.
With the madness of a dying person, it was beckoning Tatsuro to come closer, making him feel intimidated.
"Shit… It's still too dangerous to get close to that thing. If only I could weaken its skills with [Level Ea… Wait?" (Tatsuro)
As he trailed through that line of thought, he recalled the skill's description.
"If I'm not wrong, it said something like "Devour another's level." And then when I first used it, the enemy's skills level appeared too. That means…!" (Tatsuro)
Tatsuro opened his mouth and activated [Level Eater]. A black dot once again appeared in his mouth and quickly grew in size. Immediately after, the sphere was launched towards the caterpillar. Unable to see the ball yet again, the sphere easily entered the caterpillar's body.
Skill(s): [Body Slam Lv 2], [Thread Weaving Lv 3], [Bite Lv 3]
It was the same as before. He was able to see a part of the enemy's status screen.
(It's there! Alright, let's try the threads…) He thought
Concentrating on that particular skill, black smoke rose from the caterpillar's body and gathered inside Tatsuro's mouth once more.
Skill(s): [Body Slam Lv 2], [Thread Weaving Lv 0], [Bite Lv 3]
(Alright, [Thread Weaving] is now Lv 0. Now, Mom has always told me to never leave leftovers!) He thought
Once the black fumes stopped gathering, there should be nothing more left to devour. Even so, Tatsuro wanted to be sure as he checked the enemy's status again.
Skill(s): [Body Slam Lv 0], [Thread Weaving Lv 0], [Bite Lv 0]
After confirming that the enemy's skills had disappeared, Tatsuro cut off their connection and devoured the black sphere in his mouth.
Next is… If I attacked this guy with another stick… Huh?" (Tatsuro)
After finishing his preparation, Tatsuro was deciding his next move when the caterpillar suddenly wobbled and fell to the ground. There, it twitched once and never moved again.
|You have leveled up to Lv 3.|
"Level up… Well, I did defeat that thing so… Fuuu" (Tatsuro)
It was a tricky situation. As soon as Tatsuro let go of the tension from the fight, he found himself sitting on the ground. Soon after, Ai's voice sounded out.
"Yeah, somehow. What about you?" (Tatsuro)
"I got [Throwing] up to Lv 6!" (Ai)
As Ai threw a peace sign out with her hand, Tatsuro loosened his mouth and let out a sigh of relief. Standing up, he patted his pants to remove the dirt and headed towards Ai.